Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Minor (Canonical) Character Deaths, and Swearing


Batmanatee: I barely got any sleep last night uhhhhh

Billy_Da_Kid: What happened?

Batmanatee: Every five seconds some police car or ambulance came running through our neighborhood at 3 in the morning!

Billy_Da_Kid: That sucks!

Batmanatee: I know. There was some big fire at an apartment building three blocks from our house.

Billy_Da_Kid: Are you okay?

Batmanatee: Really tired but otherwise okay. Rosa is freaking out though. She's sure drugs are somehow involved. Ever since a meth lab exploded on the next block over from us 4 months ago, she's been trying to find us a new house.

Billy_Da_Kid: DUDE WHAT


A loud crack echoed through the dining room, causing the table to shake as though the room had suddenly been hit by an earthquake. Annie stiffened, sitting up straighter against the hard back of her wooden chair. Her father looked to her from across the table, but she buried her gaze into the napkin folded across her lap.

"William! Would you please enlighten us to whatever wonders are on your phone?"

Billy looked up from his own lap, his eyes wide.

"William!" their grandfather repeated, raising his fist to smack the table again.

As childish as it was, she was suddenly glad to have left her phone buried under a pile of pillows in her room.

"Father, stop!" Uncle Thad stood up, his chair screeching across the wooden floor. "You have no right to speak to my son that way!"

"Thad, tell him to put the phone away."

"Father-"

"For once act like the father you parade yourself around as!"

Annie bit her lip. A plate of roasted chicken, peas, and mashed potatoes and gravy lay below her, but she was sure everyone's lunch was about to go cold. Billy's face had gone pale.

"What did you just say?" Uncle Thad stalked towards their grandfather, his fists balled at his sides.

"You know damn well what I said. Really, Thad, you've had ten years to teach the boy some manners."

"Now, Dad," her father began, raising his hand outwards.

"Sid, this doesn't concern you." His glare could have broken twenty nazars. He turned back towards her uncle.

Annie's stomach tightened, but for once the pain didn't hold her down like a lead weight. She stood on shaking legs, clutching the cranberry red tablecloth tightly between her fists. "Oh, would you all just shut up!"

The room suddenly went silent, everyone's gaze locking onto her.

Her father's eyes were so wide that she half expected them to fall out of his head. "Annie, dear, let's sit back down and eat-"

"No!" She stepped away from the table. "You want to know why I hate coming over to visit you, Dad? Because stuff like this always ends up happening!" She glared at her grandfather, with what she could only hope was a quarter of the power his own hard eyes held. "Jesus Christ, Billy was just playing on his phone! Who cares? Everyone does it!" She pointed her index finger at him. "And Uncle Thad was right – you shouldn't have started yelling at him!"

"Young lady, I don't know what you think you're trying to do here, but you damn well better stop!" Her grandfather's face was red as a tomato. "This doesn't concern you in the least."

"Annie, can you please sit down? Dad's right, this isn't your problem."

She locked eyes with her weary-eyed father. How many holidays had she spent watching him sit with his shoulders slumped, unable to meet his own father's gaze?

She stamped her foot. Was it immature? Probably, but she wasn't the only kid in a roomful of overgrown toddlers. "No! This has been my problem my entire life. No wonder Mom hates you all. Dad, did you know she was glad when she found out what you were doing behind her back? She finally felt like she had a valid excuse to get out!" Tears burnt at the corners of her eyes, but she pushed them back. "I'm tired of coming here and trying to pretend that everything's great. Dad, I hate this family! I hate you! I'm done trying to hide it!" She turned. "I'm calling Mom and getting an early flight home."

"Annie!" The sound of her father standing only made her run out of the dining room faster, past the cabinets full of china dishes that no one was ever allowed to use, past the vases that cost more than the annual budget of the women's shelter she volunteered at. Past the trees and stockings and paper reindeer and candy canes that she had spent hours putting up.

There were more voices behind her, but she focused only on the sound of her hard-soled flats as they hit the wooden floor. She hurried up the stairs, finally letting the tears stream down her face. She'd been waiting twenty-one years to finally say that and now that it was out, she was empty, deflated like a popped balloon. Hurrying into her room, she locked the door and collapsed on her bed. As she hurriedly scrolled through her contacts list, she tried to force back the sobs that sent her body shaking.


"Sid, go upstairs and tell that little bitch to get back downstairs and apologize." His father wasn't yelling any longer, but his voice seemed to permeate the entire dining room.

"Dad-"

"You heard me!" He pointed towards the open space carved into the wall that she'd run out of. "I swear, did anyone here raise their children to show an ounce of respect?"

Thaddeus walked towards his brother, putting a firm hand on his shoulder. Their eyes met, Sid's shaking beneath his own gaze. Then, he turned to his son. "William, go upstairs and tell your cousin to pack her bags. Carry some stuff yourself if you must. She's coming back to the hotel with us until her mother can get her a plane ticket back home."

"But Thad," Sid began.

He pulled away from his brother. "You heard her, Sidney. She's leaving and so are we. I'm not going to stay here and let these continued antics keep ruining our holiday."

"Like hell you are!" His father hurried towards them. "I don't know what's gotten into everyone, but this stops now!"

"You're right, father, it does." Thaddeus turned back towards William, who was still sitting wide-eyed in his chair. "William, get Annabelle. Please."

Without a word, he was up from his seat and racing towards the stairwell.

He cleared his throat. "Father, I'm not a child any longer. Though Sid might act like it, he isn't either. It's about time you stopped treating us like them."

"You two are my sons-"

"As much as we all might wish otherwise." Thaddeus crossed his arms over his chest. "I was serious when I said you had no right to speak to my son that way. If you ever yell at William again, I will crush your windpipe with my bare hands."

"Oh, you little bastard, if you even think-"

"Not think, father. I know I can."

"If you think you can say these things to me and expect your name in my will then you have more degrees than you do brains!"

Thaddeus raised an eyebrow. "A will, father? What a morbid thing to bring up at our little family get together." He pulled his phone from his pocket. "Sid, don't worry yourself about driving us back. I'll call a cab once they're done packing."

"Thad!"

"Oh, it's not a problem for me. Why would I ever want to trouble you, brother of mine?"


"I hate them! I hate them! I fucking hate him!" Annabelle threw her pillow at the wall, hitting it with a soft thump. As soon as it fell to the floor, she began stomping on it with her foot.

William looked to him, his lips creasing into a frown. Thaddeus shook his head, then leaned out his arm and squeezed the boy's shoulder. "She needs this."

Once they'd gotten everything into the hotel room, the anger that had suddenly appeared earlier had returned with a vengeance. Now, some two minutes later, Thaddeus could already see it beginning to leave her thin frame. His stomach flipped in his chest. How many family dinners had he sat through wishing that he could do what she had just done?

"You have every right to the anger that you're feeling." Thaddeus stepped forward, holding her now shaking body against his own. Her arms remained limp at her side. If she were to wrap them around him now, would he even feel it?

The collar of his jacket was turning wet. "Do you really mean that?"

He held her chin up. "Of course I do. You have more courage in your pinkie finger than your father has in his whole body."

She gave a weak laugh. "Like that'll do me any good." Her tears were coming faster now. "Why hasn't my mom picked up her phone yet?"

"I don't know."

She sniffled. "I wish she would."

"You're more than welcome to stay with us for however long you need." He turned to William, giving him a weak smile. "Go on, tell her we aren't as bad as we first seem."

"Uncle Thad, was Grandpa always like this? Before… Before you put him…"

Thaddeus gritted his teeth. "For as long as I've lived, I've hated my father. Even if I knew why he acted the way he did, I don't think I'd be able to change him."

"I wish my dad were more like you. Maybe if he got away from the old man, if he…"

Thaddeus held back a sigh. What was he supposed to say to that? Oh, I'm sorry, but your father can fuck himself over without anyone's help.

In the end, she locked herself in the bathroom and took a long shower. Even with the door closed, Thaddeus could still feel the steam.

"Dad, when she said you 'put him,' what did she mean?"

As if that mattered now! Thaddeus turned, looking out the windows of the glass balcony and into the city beyond. "My father blames me for the accident that left him paralyzed."

William blinked. "Why?"

"Didn't you hear him?" Thaddeus winked his one normal eye. "Because I'm an ungrateful little shit who couldn't raise a kid correctly if I tried."


Sid gaped when he opened the door that night. "Thad, what the hell are you doing here?" He leaned out, analyzing the empty driveway. "How did you get here?"

"Sid, open the door. I need to speak to you and father."

He slowly opened the door. "Is this about earlier?"

"You already know the answer to that."

The sound of Christmas carols, which had once filled the house through some unseen speakers, were now silent. Were it not for their footsteps, there would have been no sound at all. Thaddeus tried not to notice the fallen Christmas tree in the living room, or the broken ornaments scattered across the floor. The dining room looked as though a hurricane had passed through it.

"You really didn't have to come here. Not now, anyway. Dad's still in one of his moods."

Thaddeus locked eyes with his brother, taking in the slowly darkening bruise along his cheek. "I never would have guessed."

He was in his study on the first floor, his face buried in a stack of papers.

"Dad," Sid called from the door, "Thad is here."

The old man snorted. "I'm surprised with you, Thad. I half expected you to get the first plane out and to run back west with your tail between your legs."

"Oh, luckily for you all of the flights got cancelled due to the bad weather."

As if to emphasize this, a crack of thunder boomed across the sky. A yellow flash lit up the window over his father's head.

"Funny thing about that. The weatherman said nothing about it all week, but this afternoon this huge storm just rolled in." Sid gave a soft chuckle.

"Is that why you're here, Thad? To discuss the weather?"

"Oh, hardly."

"Did you think you could apologize for that little outburst and I'd forgive you?" He gestured towards Sid. "Go ask him how well that worked out. That little wretch can beg her mother to help pay for her useless degree. Your little hellions can grovel at my feet for all I care. And if you think your own funds are safe, you've got more nerve than you have any right to."

"I'm surprised you ever gave us a cent, father. We all know how you love that money of yours."

He snorted. "I earned every damn penny of it. If it weren't for me, the Sivanas would have lost their birthright and become nothing. Why I ever wasted it on either of you, I'll never understand."

"And I bet you wish you had every wasted dollar back." The door behind him slammed shut as if by some unseen wind. Though his father was still lost among his world of numbers, Sid's face paled. "But again, that's not what I'm here to discuss."

"H-how…?" Sid leaned a hand against a nearby bookshelf.

Finally, his father turned back to look at him. "Then what the hell brought you here? I don't have all night for your idiotic ramblings."

"Oh, yes, Father, you most certainly do." Another crash of lightning made the room go dark. When the lights came back on a few seconds later, Thaddeus' bandages lay on a pile in the floor, his glasses held firmly in his left hand.

"That, your eye… What happened to it?" Sid put a hand against his own eye, as though he might protect it from… What, an infection?

"Oh, it was wonderful." Thaddeus grinned. "After years of searching, I finally found that damn wizard."

"Is that what this is all about?" His father was yelling again. Oh, how he loved the sound of his own voice! "Your crazy notions?"

"Yes, that's all they ever were to you. The wild ramblings of a scared little boy that stole your legs." He pulled the Magic Eight ball from his pocket with his free hand and shook it, watching as blue electrical sparks shimmered across its surface. He dropped it to the ground, rolling it towards the front wheels of his father's chair. "But that's not quite true, is it? Unless you got some high-end prosthetics since the last time I saw you, those look like legs to me." He grinned, holding up a glowing blue hand. "Not that it really matters what they are, because I know you don't need them."

His father froze, his eyes locked on Thaddeus' hand.

"How… How in the hell are you doing that, Thad?" Sid asked.

"Magic – how else?"

With a quick flick of his wrist, some books floated off his father's shelf and crashed abruptly to the floor. An old record machine came unhooked and hit the wall opposite where it had been sitting. The storm outside continued, the banging of thunder sounding like angry little deities throwing plates at one another.

"I assure you I saw the wizard that night, father. I've only been trying to tell you that ever since it happened."

"Why was I supposed to believe you?" His father wasn't yelling now. "Thad, surely you understand! This is all just so…"

"Unbelievable?" Thaddeus chuckled. "All things considered, I think I took the sudden change in my world's outlook rather well."

"So you aren't crazy! We were wrong!" That was Sid now, stepping between Thaddeus and their father. "We should have listened to you."

"There are a lot of things you shouldn't have done, weren't there?" Thaddeus stepped forward, grabbing Sid's tie. The fabric sizzled, breaking loose. Sid stepped back, staring at one of its smoking ends. "Oh, we all have our problems with father. It's fun to commiserate on our shared misery over him. But like you said, Sid, he wasn't the only one calling me crazy."

"Thad, I know what I did was wrong. But I was just a kid. That's what you do to your little brother, right?"

"Oh, yes. And I presume you were acting like only the most upstanding adult during our last Christmas together."

He grabbed Sid by the neck this time, watching his eyes bulge out and his tongue flop like a ragdoll inside of his half-opened mouth. "I spent the first third of my life terrified of you, Sidney. The reason I never paid attention during mass was because I knew the devil was on earth, living in the same house as me."

His mouth moved but no sound came out. Thaddeus could feel his body shaking, his arms and legs futilely scratching against the floor and air. By the time Thaddeus let go of him, his neck was black as a piece of coal. A stream of blood spilled down across his lips, dripping off his chin. His eyes moved wildly across the room before suddenly going still. The tips of his fingers were only a few inches from the Magic Eight ball he'd once torn from Thaddeus' hands.

Thaddeus leaned down, looking into those glassy eyes that were once his brother's. "Are you sorry now, Sid? I thought you were tougher than that."

When he stood, he felt the hardy presence of the sins behind him. How many of these same incidents had they witnessed alongside him but been unable to intervene in?

"Yes, father, I found the wizard. But I found some other old friends of mine as well."

His father turned from the smoking remains of his eldest son on the floor and back to the face of his youngest. "Thad…"

"Father, all your life you've been chasing power. When you couldn't lord it over your wife, you took what little I had from me. If the lawsuit records are correct as well, you even got a few politicians under your thumb. Oh, you must have felt so big! Bodog Sivana, chief executive officer of Sivana Industries, the big man in the room!" He gestured towards the sins. "But that's where you were wrong, Father. You can have all of the money in the world and you still wouldn't have an ounce of real power."

"Thad-"

"Thaddeus!" he roared. "My name is Doctor Thaddeus Sivana and you'd do damn well to remember it for once."

"Thaddeus, be reasonable. If there's some way that I can make it up to you… Is it the company? Take it! The house? A wonderful home for the boy, all yours."

"If you ever speak of William again, I will rip your tongue out of your throat and make you eat it."

His father stilled.

"I told you already, I don't need your damn money. This house is nothing more than a fancy pile of painted sticks. What I need, I already have." He stepped around his father, coming up behind his chair and wrapping his arms around his chest. "The sins are hungry. Why don't we let them eat?"

As the sins ripped Sid apart into a bunch of little pieces as though he were made of nothing but paper, Thaddeus eyed the clock. He'd told William and Annabelle that he'd be out for a few hours. Somehow, only an hour and fifteen minutes had passed since he'd first left the hotel. It seemed like ages. He'd spent all his life waiting for this moment, so why let it end so quickly?

"What are they, Thaddeus?"

"The angels sent down to earth to give you your final retribution, father."

"Please don't do this to me. There must be some way…"

In all his life, he'd never seen his father cry. Not when Thaddeus was stupid enough to bring up his mother, not when the doctor told him what he already knew: that he'd never walk again. Now, it was as if all the tears he'd forced back were finally strong enough to break free from him.

When there was nothing left of Sid but bits of blood, bone, and a scorched black mark in the floor, Thaddeus called the sins back to him. All five returned save for Greed, who stood by the door, its four arms outstretched.

"Father, meet my little friend Greed. I'd think you two know each other quite well already, but it would rude of me to not introduce you two."

"Thaddeus, please stop this!"

"Why? What have you ever done to deserve my mercy?" He turned and gestured for the creature to come forward. "I need only a few more moments with him and then he's all yours."

Its bulging yellow eyes never left him as Thaddeus placed his hands across first his father's left leg and then his right. They twitched when they hit the floor before finally going still.

"And here I thought you didn't have any nerves left down there!" Thaddeus grinned, looking up into his father's eyes from where he sat perched on his knees.

His father's eyes screamed since his mouth could not. Sweat poured down his face.

"No parting curse for me? Father, you've really lost your edge." He gave Greed one last glance before heading out the door. He held his glowing hands against it until a flame broke through the wood. Another crack of lightning again turned the house dark. Thaddeus used the growing fire and the sparks from his hands to help guide him back outside into the cold night.